Wife of drug kingpin ‘El Chapo’ arrested on US drug charges

PTI, Feb 23, 2021, 9:27 AM IST

Washington: The wife of Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was arrested at an airport in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges, the Justice Department has said.

Emma Coronel Aispuro, 31, who is a dual citizen of the US and Mexico, was arrested at Dulles International Airport on Monday and is expected to appear in federal court in Washington on Tuesday.

She”s accused of helping her husband escape from a Mexican prison in 2015 and was also “engaged in planning yet another prison escape” before Guzman was extradited to the US in January 2017, the Justice Department said.

Guzman was sentenced to life behind bars in 2019. His Sinaloa cartel was responsible for smuggling mountains of cocaine and other drugs into the United States during his 25-year reign, prosecutors said in recent court papers. They also said his “army” was under orders to kidnap, torture and murder anyone who got in his way.

His wife is also accused of participating in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana in the US.